Ma Ferguson
Topic of TWU's Thompson Lecture

10/16/03

DENTON — Writer and political historian Dr. May Paulissen
will offer a glimpse into the governor’s mansion with her
talk about Texas’ first woman governor, Miriam “Ma”
Ferguson, at the Joyce Thompson Lectureship in American Literature
and Culture, Nov. 11 at 2:30 p.m. in the Multipurpose Classroom
and Laboratory Building, located near the intersection of Bell Avenue
and East College Street, at Texas Woman's University. Admission
is free.

Dr. Paulissen began collecting
stories about James and Miriam Ferguson from her grandfather, a
former mayor of McKinney. A lifelong interest in Texas politics,
extensive research in the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and interviews
with scores of people associated with the Fergusons — their
children, grandchildren, allies and enemies — resulted in
her writing Miriam, a Biography of the First Woman to Serve
as Governor of Texas.

Dr. Paulissen is a former
dean and professor at Houston International University and now assists
doctoral students with their dissertations at Capella University,
a distance education institution of which she is a founding professor.
She is currently working on a book about Lady Mary Wroth and other
17th Century writers.

The Joyce Thompson Lectureship in American Literature and Culture
is an annual event honoring the memory of Dr. Joyce Thompson, professor
of English, who served as a member of the TWU faculty from 1977
until her death in 1992 at the age of 48. She was the founder of
the "Women and American Literature" course at TWU as well
as the founder of the "Ethnic Literature" course.

Author of more than 30
published works, Dr. Thompson’s major writings included Marking
A Trail: A History of the Texas Woman's University, Texas
Women: The Myth/The Reality and Ladies' Firsts: A Miscellany.